The new Six Flags Great Escape hotel and water park going up in Lake George has hired Dan Williams, a 30-year veteran of the hotel industry, as its first general manager.

The Great Escape Lodge, the first Six Flags-branded hotel in the nation and the first hotel with its own water park in New York state, is set to open in December or January across from The Great Escape & Splashwater Kingdom.

The Adirondack-themed lodge will have 200 suites and its 38,000-square-foot indoor water park will offer travelers a bit of summer fun, even in the depths of winter.

"This is definitely a family-oriented hotel," said Williams. "It will appeal to groups, associations and to any organization that wants to bring spouses and kids along."

The water park will have a "lazy river" and other attractions suitable for older adults, as well as slides and other more strenuous activities.

While promoting the lodge outside the region, Williams also wants locals to have a look: The Great Escape is offering $189 discount reservations for January, in the hope people here will want to see the place before the busy season kicks in and prices go up.

Capital Region companies involved in the project include Aquatic Development Group of Cohoes, which designs and builds waterparks, BBL Construction Services LLC of Albany and construction company D.A. Collins Cos. of Mechanicville.

When it opens, the lodge is expected to employ 60 to 70 full-time.

Williams, 48, is moving from New Jersey after 29 years managing hotels there and in other states.

A native of the Philadelphia area, he spent the last 11 years with Pacific Concord Investment Corp., where he was a vice president responsible for operations of all of the properties the company owned or managed.

Branded properties he oversaw included Sheraton, Doubletree and SpringHill Suites by Marriott.

Williams got his start in the hotel industry as a bellhop at age 19, while a business student at West Chester University in Pennsylvania.

He did not expect to go into hotel management professionally.

As his career went on, he worked his way up, landing his first general manager post when he was 27.

Before New Jersey, Williams managed hotels and resorts in Pennsylvania, Florida, Ohio, Delaware and North Carolina.